


Who Do You Love?

by startrekkingaroundasgard



Series: Pride Month Prompts 2019 [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bisexual Peter Parker, Everyone Is Alive, Gen, Iron Family, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, mentions of biphobia, mentions of peter parker / harley keener, reassurance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2020-04-07 14:14:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19086712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/startrekkingaroundasgard/pseuds/startrekkingaroundasgard
Summary: Peter is having trouble coming to terms with his feelings and ends up getting unexpected reassurance from Morgan.





	Who Do You Love?

Peter flopped onto Morgan’s bed, burying his face in the brightly coloured bed sheets. He let out a groan and pulled one of her bears against his chest, squashing the teddy in his arms.

“You’re gonna hurt Jarvis, Petey! Let him go!” Morgan squealed. She tugged on the teddy bear’s ears, freeing it from Peter’s tight grasp. Pressing a kiss to the bear’s head, she carefully set him on her pillow before making herself comfortable by Peter’s side. Her legs swung back and forth over the edge of the bed, hitting the frame in what may have appeared to be a random way but was actually a complex pattern based on perfect numbers (she liked those, because they were perfect “just like me”).

Gently patting her big brother’s shoulder, Morgan asked, “Why are you sad, Spidey?”

He rolled over and stared at the ceiling, refusing to meet her gaze because Peter knew the moment he saw those big, brown, puppy dog eyes that he would spill all of his secrets. If he said nothing, Morgan would get bored. She was like her father in that respect; when it came to ‘real life problems’ she had an attention span of a gnat and was very easily distracted by shiny things.

Unfortunately for Peter, it seemed that today was the day Morgan had decided to outgrow that disinterest in anything outside her usual interests. She continued to poke his shoulder, singing his name over and over until he could avoid answering her no longer.

With a deep sigh, Peter pushed himself upright and made himself comfortable against the wall, careful to avoid squashing any more of her teddy bears. Fiddling with the edges of Morgan’s blanket, he sighed, “I think I’m in love, Morg.”

“Why is that making you sad?” Morgan asked, her little face scrunched up in an adorable frown. “Love is good. Who do you love, Petey? Is it MJ? She’s so pretty. And clever. She’s taught me loads of new things.”

Peter was quick to assure her that it was definitely not MJ. Not that he didn’t think she was beautiful or smart, because she absolutely was. MJ was an incredible woman but they’d tried dating and it had just been a bit too weird. The transition back to friends had been so easy that they both wondered if they’d really been going out at all.

“Tell me who you love, Petey,” Morgan moaned, hanging off his arm like a hyper monkey. She loved climbing over him because he was more than strong enough to pick her up and throw her around (although only when her parents weren’t looking because Peter actually valued his continued existence, however the secret nature of their games seemed to make it all the more exciting for the little girl). “Tell me. Tell me. Tell me.”

“It’s not that simple, Mo.”

“Why not?”

“Sometimes… People fall in love with people that society says they shouldn’t.”

Morgan let out a dramatic gasp and covered her face with her hands. She glanced towards the door to check that no-one else was listening in then leant forward and whispered, “Are you in love with a supervillain?”

“I’m not in love with a supervillain, Morgan.”

“Oh. That’s sad. If you were, then you could get all the spiders and take over the world to prove your love. That’d be so romantic.”

“You want to live in a world run by spiders?”

She shrugged. “They can’t do worse than people have. Plus, spiders are really little so if I don’t like what they’re saying then I can just step on them all. Then I could rule the world and it would be awesome. Everyone would give me all their cookies and cheeseburgers so I don’t take their teddies or cars and I could have all the toys I want. And everyone would call me Queen Morgan! Oh! I could have a big crown, too!”

“Are you sure you’re not a supervillain, Mo?”

A huge grin on her face, Morgan tilted her head to the side and asked sweetly, “Are you gonna get me a juice pop?”

Peter narrowed his eyes at his sister and sighed. There was no way he could ever say no to her. It just didn’t help that he genuinely believed she would try and take over the world if he didn’t steal her some extra dessert. “You are evil. What flavour do you want?”

“Huh. It works on you, too. Interesting,” she mumbled to herself. “Blueberry, please.”

When Peter returned, brandishing two juice pops, Morgan tugged him back on to her bed and said, “You still have to tell me who you wanna kiss.”

Far more adept at reading emotions than any other six year old he knew, Peter wasn’t surprised when Morgan picked up on his reluctance to share. She grabbed her favourite bear and shoved it into his lap. “If you won’t tell me, tell platypus. He’s a really good listener. He learned it from me.”

Under Morgan’s unwavering glare, Peter brought the bear’s ear to his lips and whispered the secret that had been weighing so heavily on his mind. Stupid as it may be, it actually did help to speak the words aloud. Closing his eyes, Peter set the bear down on the bed and said, “You know Harley?”

“Sure. He comes round sometimes and lets me play with his new robots. He’s funny.”

“Yeah. Well, we’ve been working on a few projects together lately and he’s really cool, you know? He’s super smart and gets this adorable look in his eyes when we’re working in the lab and I think I love him, Morg.”

“Peter and Harley, sitting in a tree,” Morgan sang, squealing when Peter grabbed her pillow and whacked her with it. She retaliated in kind and didn’t hold back, beating her brother until he was begging for forgiveness. The pair made so much of a racket that Pepper actually popped her head in the door to make sure they weren’t actually killing one another and was too busy rolling her eyes to notice the half eaten juice pops melting on the carpet.

Once she was sure they were alone again, aware but not completely understanding why this had to stay a secret between them, Morgan curled up against her brother’s side and said, “Petey, I still don’t understand why you’re sad. Love is a good thing.”

“I can't… We can’t be together in public, Mo.”

“Why?” she asked, leaning away from Peter to get a better look at his face.

“There are some people who think… They think that two guys shouldn’t be together. That it’s wrong. And that it’s really wrong that a person maybe likes boys and girls. That superheroes shouldn’t be… like that.”

“But that’s bullshit. I like boys and girls. It’s not weird.”

“Morgan Stark! Where did you learn that word?”

“MJ taught it me! I told you, she’s really smart. She said that the patriarchy is bullshit and that we are all slaves to the system. I don’t know what system she means as all of daddy’s computer systems work for us but I think she’s right about men. Daddy wouldn’t get anything done if mommy wasn’t there to help him.”

“Oh god, oh god. Your parents are going to kill me.” Peter grabbed Morgan by the shoulders and squeezed them gently. “Mo, you are never gonna say that word ever again.”

Much like her father, when Morgan was told not to do something it only further increased her desire to do it. Grinning in a way that would have frightened the Cheshire Cat, Morgan leant forward and whispered, “Bullshit.”

“I’m serious! If you say that again, I’ll -”

“You’ll what?” Morgan challenged.

“I’ll tell your mom that you hide your vegetables in your pockets and throw them out the window when she isn’t looking.”

Morgan’s face went pale and Peter knew he’d won this particular battle. It wasn’t easy to get dirt on her and he’d been saving this particular piece of information for months. While he wished he could have kept it up his sleeve for a little longer, desperate times called for desperate measures.

Chin in the air, victorious, Peter said, “That’s what I thought.”

“You’re mean, Spidey.”

It wasn’t long before Morgan forgot why she was angry with Peter and turned her attention back to the problem at hand. “Why doesn’t Peter go out with Harley”

“What?”

“Well, Peter isn’t a superhero. He… You are just normal. So Peter gets a boyfriend and Spiderman doesn’t. Then the stupid people won’t be angry about Spiderman.” Misunderstanding Peter’s gobsmacked expression as one of disagreement, unaware of how charmingly simple her solution was, Morgan simply shrugged and said, “You could always do what daddy says: Ignore the idiots and do what makes you happy. Tell the people you want to tell and just smile at the ones you don’t. Whatever you do, I think it’s obvious what you need to do first.”

“And what’s that, Mo?”

“Well, you need to ask Harley on a date! With Peter or Spiderman. I’m sure he’d be happy with you both. But maybe before you do, you should have a shower. You smell bad. And your hair is a mess. And you could dress a lot better, too…”

Peter coughed, not sure he could take many more of Morgan’s constructive criticisms. He knew she meant well but, like her mother, she didn’t really hold back when it came to the truth. “Maybe that’s enough of that.”

“Sorry. I’m sure Harley’ll love you just the way you are.”

“You really think so?”

“Well, yeah. You’re the best.” Morgan stood up and wrapped her arms around Peter’s neck, hugging him so tight that he almost couldn’t breathe. Finally releasing him from her death grip, Morgan grabbed his hand and tugged him towards the door. “Come on, I’ve got something to show you! Daddy’s been working on a new suit for you and it’s super secret but I found where he hid it.”

“Are we gonna get in trouble if Tony finds out we’ve been messing around with his things?”

Morgan shrugged. “You might but I’m his little Iron Princess so I never get in trouble.”

Believing that entirely and accepting his own fate, Peter motioned towards the door. “Lead the way.”


End file.
